Brian Baise enters his 17th season as head coach of the Harvard men's volleyball team in 2024-25. During his time in Cambridge, he has ushered in an era of unprecedented success for the Crimson.
Baise completed his first season at Harvard in 2009, helping lead the Crimson to a tie for first place in the EIVA Hay Division with an 11-8 overall record and a 6-2 conference mark. Two Crimson were named to the EIVA All-Academic Team, while Brady Weissbourd ’09 earned second-team All-EIVA honors.
Harvard announced itself as a national player in 2012 when the Crimson earned the program’s first-ever national ranking and finished the year at No. 15 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. Harvard posted an 18-6 overall record on the year and finished second in the EIVA with a 10-4 conference mark, earning Baise EIVA Bob Sweeney Coach of the Year honors. Additionally, Harvard’s 18 wins were third-most in program history.
The Crimson finished the 2012 campaign ranked seventh in the NCAA in hitting percentage (.298), eighth in win percentage (.750) and 11th in aces per set (1.13). Individually, senior Matt Jones ’12 ranked ninth in kills (3.38) and aces (0.42), while sophomore Chris Gibbons ’14 was eighth in digs (2.47). Harvard also posted its first win over a ranked opponent under Baise with a 3-1 defeat of then-No. 12 Cal State Northridge.
Three Crimson earned All-EIVA honors as a result of the team’s success, including Jones (first team), freshman DJ White ’15 (first team) and junior Rob Lothman ’13 (second team). Jones, meanwhile, caped his career off as the program’s all-time leader in kills (1,218), digs (482) and aces (97), while also ranking in the program’s top 10 for career blocks, block assists and solo blocks.
In 2013, Baise and the Crimson continued on the road to success earning a national ranking on Feb. 25, at No. 14 in the AVCA Poll. Harvard finished second at the EIVA postseason tournament and posted its third 18-win season, which included the program's first defeat of EIVA-leader Penn State and second victory over a ranked opponent under Baise.
As a result of the team's success in 2013, four Crimson earned All-EIVA accolades, the most since the 1993 squad, including White (first team), classmate Caleb Zimmick (second team), senior Rob Lothman (second team) and junior Kyle Rehkemper (second team). Lothman capped off his campaign in Cambridge as Harvard's all-time leader in assists (3,094), while White and Zimmick moved among the program's top 10 in five different statistical categories as sophomores.
Harvard earned multiple program-bests in 2014, including its highest AVCA national ranking at No. 13. After posting the most EIVA wins in program history with an 11-3 mark, another record was set as five Crimson garnered All-EIVA accolades. White, who picked up his third first-team nod, was joined by senior Nick Madden and Zimmick. Rehkemper was named to the second team along with freshman Nick Bendell, who also was tabbed to the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Freshman All-America Team. Along the way to a 15-8 record, the Crimson ranked fourth in the nation in digs per set (10.08) and 13th in hitting percentage (.289). Individually, Zimmick posted the sixth-best hitting percentage (.440) in the country and sat 17th on the blocks list while Chris Gibbons came in at seventh on the nation’s digs list (2.25). Harvard’s five graduating seniors, Will Chambers, Gibbons, Madden, Michael Owen and Rehkemper, each etched their names in the Crimson’s record book.
The Crimson earned a fourth-consecutive trip to the EIVA Championships in 2015, finishing second in conference play at 7-5, and tied the program's all-time highest ranking at No. 13. Harvard had three selections on the All-EIVA first team in seniors DJ White and Caleb Zimmick and junior Branden Clemens, with Zimmick earning honorable mention All-America honors for the second-straight season. White finished his senior season as the first student-athlete in Harvard history to accumulate 1,000 kills and 500 digs. The Crimson ranked seventh in the country as a team in digs per set (9.66), 11th in hitting percentage (.277), and 12th in blocks per set (2.48).
The successes continued in 2016 as Harvard reached the EIVA Tournament for a fifth straight year and finished the campaign at 13-11 overall, 9-6 in conference. Harvard earned a straight-set win over then 15th-ranked Saint Francis (PA) on its home court, helping the team to a 7-2 record at the Malkin Athletic Center. The Crimson ranked ninth in the NCAA in hitting percentage (.298), 15th in aces per set (1.31) and 17th in blocks per set (2.19), while Clemens, an All-America honorable mention selection, ranked 18th in kills per set (3.65) and 24th in hitting percentage (.320).
The 2017 men's volleyball team finished fifth in the EIVA with a 7-7 mark in conference play. The Crimson concluded the season with a 10-13 overall mark, led by the offensive efforts from senior Casey White, who ended his season with 241 kills, 162 digs, and 287.0 points. He paced the Crimson defense as well, finishing the season with 1.80 digs/set and earning seven double-doubles over the season. He earned his career high in kills against UC Santa Barbara, recording 19. Harvard ranked in the top-10 nationally in blocks per set, climbing as high as sixth with 1.12 blocks/set. Marko Kostich and White were awarded All-EIVA Second Team honors for their efforts.
The 2018 season proved historic for Harvard, as coach Baise led the Crimson to its first EIVA Championship title and trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history. Harvard concluded its campaign with a 13-14 overall record and 10-4 conference mark, boasting an 8-2 tally on its home court. Brad Gretsch was named the Most Outstanding Player of the EIVA tournament as the senior finished the season ranked 21st tin the nation in kills per set at 3.48. Gretsch, along with Marko Kostich, were named to the All-EIVA first team, while Matthew Ctvrtlik and Riley Moore received second-team honors. Additionally, five student-athletes were tabbed to the EIVA All-Academic Team, while graduating seniors Gretsch, Kostich and Moore each etched their names in the Crimson’s record book.
The Ivy League/Harvard canceled the entire 2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2022 season found the Crimson earning the 2-seed in the EIVA Tournament after a 12-12, 10-6 EIVA showing throughout the season under Baise's guidance. The Crimson swept Ivy League foe Princeton and earned the best finish under Baise for the Crimson since the EIVA championship season in 2018. The team had Ethan Smith earn Honorable Mention All-America Honors and set the Harvard single-season record in hitting percentage at .531, while leading the nation in the category for most of the year. There were five All-EIVA selections with Jason Shen and Eric Li on the honorable mention team, James Bardin on the second team, and Smith and Campbell Schoenfeld earning first-team honors. Over the course of the season, Schoenfeld earned AVCA Div. I-II National Player of the Week accolades (Feb. 22), along with his EIVA Offensive Player of the Week honors (Jan. 24). Smith and Shen, meanwhile, swept the offensive/defensive EIVA weekly awards on April 18.
After the start-and-stop nature of playing in the aftermath of a global pandemic, the 2023 campaign marked one of transition for Harvard. Baise leaned on the leadership of its COVID-affected senior class, while ushering in a talented crop of underclassmen. The Crimson routinely started a group that featured zero seniors and were led in kills by a first-year in Zach Berty and a sophomore in Kade McGovern. Defensively, second-year player Logan Shepherd led the team in digs, with a pair of juniors in Trevor Schultz and Ethan Smith (All-EIVA Second Team) leading the way in total blocks. Despite the youth, Harvard advanced to the EIVA tournament for the second year in a row, a feat not accomplished in Cambridge since 2015-16.
The Crimson ended its 2024 campaign with a 12-13 overall record and its first trip to the EIVA Tournament semifinals since 2018. After starting the season 1-4, Harvard broke out to win 10 of its next 12 matches including registering a pair of ranked wins over No. 14 Princeton and No. 20 Daemen. While on its hot streak, the Crimson were receiving votes in the AVCA top-20 poll for several weeks. Ultimately, Harvard finished the conference season, 3-7 to earn the No. 5-seed in the EIVA Tournament. After closing the regular season with a pair of losses to NJIT, the Crimson bounced back by dropping the Highlanders 3-0 to advance in the postseason. Throughout 2024, Baise also played an instrumental role in senior, Ethan Smith's, success. The senior middle blocker went on to be named First Team All-EIVA.
The Crimson went 9-15 in the 2025 season including making a return to the EIVA Tournament as the six-seed. Harvard faced a host of ranked opponents in 2025 including No. 4 Hawaii in the first two matches of the season. Baise helped the Crimson push the Rainbow Warriors to five sets in the second match which ultimately earned the team national recognition with a No. 20 ranking in the AVCA poll. To open EIVA action, Baise also led the Crimson to a historic three-set sweep of No. 17 Penn State, snapping the Nittany Lions 38-match conference win streak. In 2025, Baise was instrumental in leading four Crimson to EIVA honors including James Bardin and Logan Shepherd earning Second Team All-EIVA and Zach Berty and Owen Woolbert receiving Honorable Mention All-EIVA.
Prior to coming to Harvard, Baise spent one year as an assistant head coach and one year as the head coach for the club team at California from 1999-2001, leading the Bears to the quarterfinals of the 2000 NIRSA Championships before moving east with his wife, Laurie, who is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Tufts.
Baise is a 1995 graduate of Princeton where he earned a degree in English and was a four-year starter for the Tigers. A former two-time Junior Olympic All-American, Baise served as the Tigers' captain and was team MVP as a senior.
Before attending Princeton, Baise was a two-time captain and 1991 California Interscholastic Federation first-team selection and CIF 3A state champion at Harvard-Westlake High School. He was a member of the U.S. Junior National Team in 1992.
